Five construction workers have been detained for questioning after a 42-year-old Nepalese worker was found dead in a gorge in Mizoram’s Mamit district, police said on Friday.
The victim was staying with other workers at a camp near Lungphun village when he allegedly died on Wednesday night. His body was later recovered from a gorge near the area, police said.
The workers were employed by a road construction company involved in repairing roads, walls and culverts in the district. The five detained workers, including some Nepalese nationals, were questioned and their statements recorded, a police officer said.
An autopsy was scheduled to be conducted at Kanghmun on Friday. The body was expected to be handed over to a Gorkha association in Aizawl after the post-mortem.
Police said the circumstances of the death were under investigation and it had not yet been established whether it was a case of homicide.
Local residents alleged that the workers had an argument on Wednesday night, during which the victim was allegedly hit on the leg and later thrown into the gorge by his co-workers. Police were investigating the circumstances leading to his death.
